'Durga/Umayi':
'Durga/Umayi':
Nothing lost in translation of a modern classic
Jennifer Lindsay, Contributor, Singapore
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Durga/Umayi
Y.B. Mangunwijaya, translated by Ward Keeler.
University of Washington Press, in association with Singapore
University Press, 2004
212 pp
Rp 220,000
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Mangunwijaya's novel Durga Umayi, published in 1991, is a
remarkable work for many reasons, not least of which its fiendish
language play and experimentation with form. It took a brave
person to translate this work into English, and Ward Keeler was
undoubtedly the right person to do it.
Rama Mangun, an activist, architect, engineer, writer and
Catholic priest who died in 1999, would have loved this
translation of his work.
The novel tells the life story of a multinamed, multifaceted,
multilingual and multipurpose woman whose most intimate name is
Iin; a larger-than-life character whose life journey parallels
and symbolizes the story of the Indonesian nation.
Iin and her twin brother are the Javanese children of a mother
who is for a time the mistress of a Japanese officer, and a
father who was a soldier in the Dutch KNIL army, then a heiho
(paramilitary units set up by the Japanese army), and who luckily
falls in with the fighters for the Great Indonesian Revolution.
Their lives, like those of all the characters in the book, are
shaped by accident.
As the great events that turn into history swirl about them,
they do the best they can, and if they are lucky they are on the
right side at the right time. Mangunwijaya's own voice, while
deeply scathing of Indonesia's history, is totally nonjudgemental
of ordinary people just trying to get on with their lives.
The story of Iin herself is a story of youthful ideals
whittled away into pure opportunism, told as comic allegory.
Major events in her life coincide with dates in Indonesia's
history, as her life moves from that of a young idealist working
as a servant for the soon-to-be president Sukarno, to that of a
morally-challenged "career woman" wheeling and dealing in arms
and drugs and living a life of totally absurd opulence.
As a young girl she joins Bung (brother) Karno's household in
Jakarta where she is in charge of making sure the bathrooms are
spotless on the day her boss proclaims Indonesia's independence.
She then serves the revolutionary cause as a cook, leaves the
camp disenchanted, and is captured and raped by the soldiers
fighting on the Dutch side.
She later becomes involved with the Indonesian Communist
Party's organizations Lekra and Gerwani, but is fortunately out
of the country as the cadres are rounded up after Sept. 30, 1965.
Her first plastic surgery to change her identity takes place on
11 March, 1966, which is the day of "Supersemar" when Sukarno
was made to hand over power to Soeharto.
Her second restorative plastic surgery, before she returns to
Indonesia hoping to be reunited with her brother, happens on
Harkitnas (National Awakening Day).
Throughout the novel, Mangunwijaya plays wickedly with the
sacred icons of Indonesian nationalism. Taking a woman as the
main character is part of this "anti-epic" strategy (but no
heroic Sarinah type woman, either). Inserted like riddles into
the text is the "sacred" date 17-8-45, with different
combinations of these magic figures appearing in hilarious ways.
The story is at times gleefully absurd, particularly in the
descriptions of over-the-top extravagance in the second part of
the book. The portrayal of time is fluid, ranging back and forth
and even into the future (the last event is set in 1999, eight
years after the book was originally published).
There is no point in trying to make any chronological sense of
Iin's life through matching her age to the years, and there are
many instances where times just don't match up.
But this book is, above all, storytelling, and in
storytelling, focus often moves fluidly in this way. Mangunwijaya
also experiments with fluid linguistic techniques of
storytelling.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the book is the language
and style. The language is very oral, Javanese-Indonesian in
feel, with a liberal sprinkling of all kinds of foreign words,
rich in alliteration and vivid word play. The prose is written as
long, rarely-punctuated sentences that can roam over more than a
page. The phrases move the reader's attention along in all kinds
of unexpected directions; gliding from the narrator's story to
the thoughts of the character to some kind of reported speech,
back to comments and thoughts of the narrator in a free-flow. It
works well when read aloud.
But this fluid storytelling makes the language fiendishly
difficult to translate. It is not surprising that Keeler, who is
also expert in Javanese (as well as Balinese and Burmese), and
has spent years researching Javanese wayang kulit (shadow
puppetry), should have found the right balance of seriousness and
fun, as well as distance and intimacy to translate this work into
English.
He experiments too with sound, alliteration and rhythm in
English, coining his own compound words and phrases Mangunwijaya
style, but still remaining true to the spirit of the original
Indonesian in his creative use of English.
Apart from the body of the novel itself, with the brilliant
translation of Mangunwijaya's exuberant Indonesian-Javanese poem
at the beginning, Keeler has also written both an introduction
and an afterword in the English translation. These are excellent
essays about the work and its comparative place in Indonesian
literature, and provide basic historical and cultural information
to guide those who are not Indonesian specialists.
There are also translator's notes at the back of the book,
explaining terms in the text that might be obscure to the reader,
and a list of further reading.
This is only the second of Mangunwijaya's works to be
translated into English, the other being The Weaverbirds,
translated by Tom Hunter (Lontar Foundation, 1991), a book of
very different tone and style.
The Indonesian text of Durga Umayi has long been out of print.
It is hoped that this English translation will inspire a reprint
of the original. Meanwhile, even Indonesian speakers/readers will
enjoy the different language play of Keeler's English excellent
translation.
-- The reviewer is a research fellow at the Asia Research
Institute, National University of Singapore.